Review:
I was so excited when I when I opened the package (which contained a small amount of bubble wrap on the inside of the packaging) and began playing with it immediately. For half an hour, I repeated the phrase “It’s Fuzzy!” over and over again, which (given its name) should not have come as a surprise, but hey. I insisted that my partner (who normally has no interest in Stim Toys) feel the Fuzz for himself, naturally he approves.

I completely underestimated just how good the fuzzy flocking on the Fuzzy Tangle Jr would feel, for Fuzzy Factor alone, I would totally recommend. I also got the rose-pink coloured one, which was the one I wanted, so I’m super happy with that. There was a small problem, I think the links might be a little looser than what I’m used to, but I’m willing to put up with that in exchange for a cheap knock-off Fuzzy Tangle. Must obtain more in various colours.

Review:
While, on the surface, this Tangle Jr. is aesthetically pleasing (I do like the rainbow-spectrum of hexagons), I was hoping to get the Galactic Print Tangle Jr. instead (it’s so pretty). I know this will sound petty, but I truly dislike the random selection option, even if the Tangle Jr. is considerably cheaper than normal.

With regards to the colour design, I have noticed that on the reverse side of the Tangle Jr., the design print has faded significantly, it almost resembles a white ring and I can use this white ring to match up the individual pieces of the Tangle Jr. I know it’s a small flaw, and it should be expected with the knock-off variety of Tangle Jr., but it irritates me.

The links of the Tangle Jr. are stiffer than normal, especially in comparison to my Tangle Jr. Classic, however, while I don’t mind stiffer links, but this might be something of consideration for others. The packaging was pretty minimal (Banggood-style) but everything arrived in one piece.

All in all, if you need a Tangle Jr. that is aesthetically pleasing and cheap in price, this is a good starting point

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There are some items that, while being undeniably stimulating, do not come under the category of Stim Toys. Items like, Mermaid Sequin cushions, gloves, hats, and certain types of fluffy blankets can all be great for stimming, but it’s not practical to carry around a large cushion like this:

Personally, I’ve only just recently recognised my need for pressure stimming, which explains I enjoy wearing a hoard of telephone-cord hair-ties around my wrists or a snug/form-fitting t-shirt or tight camisole with a large jumper/hoodie over the top. It has also explained my adolescent obsession with finger-less gloves, something I have begun to revisit with the added bonus of colour co-ordination.

I bought this pair, and an identical pair of gloves like these in black (pictures below), for work. I bought them from Daiso on Flinders Street for AU $2.80 each. Pictures of the black gloves with my telephone-cord hair-ties and other accessories are below:

I was in Big W at Watergardens Shopping Centre and was looking at the party supply section, which is this enormous wall of hanging items for hosting a party (just in case that wasn’t obvious). All the items are divided into colour coordinated sections, like say you’re doing a birthday party for someone and their favourite colour is green, BAM! All the green stuff is in the one section. I noticed in the party supply section, they had fish-net finger-less gloves for AU $4.50. I bought a pink and blue pair, but there were more colours available, the pictures are below:

Now, I’ve had these gloves for ages, and while it may not be obvious in the picture, they’re elbow-length lace gloves (picture below). Out of all the gloves I have, these are the ones I enjoy wearing the most, despite the fact that they are mostly impractical for doing anything.
As these were given to me as a birthday gift so I don’t know how much they cost, but they are probably more expensive than the other gloves mentioned, however, if you’re itching to find a pair (I mean, why wouldn’t you want a pair? Am I right?), you might be able to find them in those small stores that sell socks, stockings and tights.

So, do you enjoy pressure stimming? Do you have a wide variety of socks and gloves in unusual colours? Do you have a fashion accessory you always like to wear before you leave the house? Let me know in the comments section below 🙂

Review:
I enjoy bouncy balls, I have a large glass-jar of them sitting on my desk, they are an interest of mine that has continued to follow me into Adulthood (whatever that is), however, there is a weakness with them. As I’m terrible with hand-to-eye co-ordination, and bouncy balls tend to be on the small side, two combined factors makes them easier to lose. Thus in my adult-ish wisdom of trial and error, I have begun pursuing larger bouncy balls, they’re easier for me to catch and easier to find.

The thing is, these balls are more squishy then bouncy, the squish-factor is awesome, you can squish the ball completely flat and then make it round again. To be honest, I would highly recommend this stim toy on squish-factor alone, however, the tag does say “hi-bounce”. The bouncy factor is good but I wouldn’t consider it high bouncy, I tested it out on my kitchen floor, and while I did have to throw it hard, it bounced adequately. I’d be more concerned about the ball collecting dust and other stuff, which is what happened with my ball when I tested it (although it’s easy to clean off so *shrug*).

All in all, happy to recommend to pretty much anyone, there’s a reason these items quickly sell-out on Stimtastic.

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How do you decide which project to work on?
I’m actually pretty terrible at focusing on a singular project and I’m often working on multiple projects at once.

How long does it usually take you to finish a project?
The Pushing Boundaries series is the only project thus far I’ve been able to focus on long-term. I wrote a rough draft for Canis Major – Volume I for NaNoWriMo 2015 (November) and had it edited and self-published by November 2016. I know a year doesn’t sound like a long time, but it felt like a long time because I was focusing on it for a core unit of my degree and needed the eBook published in order to graduate.

Do you have any routines to put you in the writing mood?
No, unfortunately, although I am trying to organise myself into the ritual of getting a cup of tea and lighting some tea-candles and an essential oil burner before starting and seeing how that goes.

What time of day do you write best?
I generally struggle in the morning and tend to work better in the afternoon and evening

Are there any authors you think you have a similar style to?
As I’m an author who is just starting out, I have no idea, personally I think this is something you’d have to ask a reader rather than a writer.

Why did you start writing, and why do you keep writing?
Looking back, I began fan fiction writing as a coping strategy for dealing with… well, Life in general, I suppose, however, it also allowed me to experiment with writing possible narratives that could occur within that already structured world, most of these narrative possibilities contained the idea that the canon narrative could have gone in a different direction than the one the author chose. It’s a safe way to explore narratives and characters. But, eventually, the novelty of fan fiction (and the lack of quality control) made the cons of fan fiction out-weigh the pros.

I also realised that if I spent all my time playing around with other people’s narratives and characters, I was left with neither the time or mental capacity to work on my own narratives and characters (although characterisation is still an area I need to improve upon). The reason I keep writing, I guess, is because I’m constantly coming up with new ideas, which is kind of frustrating because I’d like to be able to work on the projects I’ve already started, but we all have our own creative processes.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve written?
During the editing process, I was trying to get my character Beth to convey some plot/character related information to another character Mac, in the original manuscript this took place over three chapters, however, with the assistance of my editor Kim, I managed to transfer this information in three lines of dialogue. It was so frustrating and annoying at the time but it was a good learning experience.

Is there a project you want to tackle someday but you don’t feel ready yet?
probably my Lake of Tears project, which is a SFF (Science Fiction Fantasy) Dystopian cross-over involving elves, gods, mages, dragons and time-travel. I am nowhere near the level I need to be (as a writer) to write it, that and I need to do some more research into time-travel and paradoxes.

What writing goals did you make for 2017 and how are they going?
I wanted to have written Orion – Volume II written, edited and self-published by the end of the year, but that goal has become laughably out of reach due to personal circumstances and issues with mental health.

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Image Description: a “Very Demotivational” meme, which is a picture of a panda trapped on a branch, with a black border around the picture with white-text captioning down the bottom of the picture: “Technical Difficulties: We has them…”

I’ve been thinking of starting up (surprise, surprise!) another writing project, the big problem is that I’m currently torn between what kind of platforms I should use, I don’t know if my intended project is more suitable for Podcasting, a YouTube Channel or perhaps a combination (somehow?). Perhaps I should discuss my new writing project and maybe it’ll help me with he decision process. I want to set up a platform where I talk about Mental Health and ADHD (as well as some related topic things like stim toys). As I’m not a qualified therapist or counsellor, I would only be able to talk from the podium of my own experiences, so the video path would involve journal-like videos talking about my diagnosis, my personal diagnostic process, as well my interconnected mental health problems.

I’m going to be honest, YouTube has a large market on the “journal/confession” style of video, and while that results in great content like Katie Morton’s YouTube Channel and Annie Elainey’s YouTube Channel, it leaves me wondering “What do I bring to the table that is unique and different?” and “how can I possibly stand out?” See, the funny thing is that there is a lot of ADHD journal-style channels already out there, usually they have ten videos and then they haven’t been updated since or they have been updated but there are irregularities in postings or big gaps.

The problem is that I understand only too well why that is the case, I’ve been doing the same thing too pretty much all my life and I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to embark on yet another project, invest a lot of my time, effort and limited financial resources into a platform only to give up half-way through. And, yeah, I’m perfectly willing to admit that my scatter-gun approach to… pretty much everything might be apart of the problem. My usual method of throwing things at a platform and seeing what sticks isn’t working for me or isn’t working as well as I’d like it to. It’s not that I’m not willing to give both a go, its not that I’m not willing to take risks, what I’d like is some feedback before I make the attempt.

What’s the Project going to be about?
My objective is create channel (regardless of whether its YouTube or Podcast) that covers the following:

Facts About ADHD – episodes that focus on the facts and resources regarding ADHD (like books and support groups available). I want these episodes to have a more Australian approach to it and my focus will primarily be Adults with ADHD, because unfortunately the majority of resources currently available tend to be more geared towards children with ADHD and their parents.

Interviewing Mental Health professionals or people involved with positive Mental Health support (like social workers or support groups)

I suppose I should include the possible pros and cons of each platform.

YouTube Channel Pros:

Dramatic reenactments with my collection of Weighted Plushies: this is the aspect of making videos that I’m looking forward to the most. I’m already thinking and detailing in my mind the jump-cut sketches I could possibly make.

Editing: I enjoy the editing process of film-making, I’m currently using Adobe Premier, which is great if not a little complicated (I’m doing a Skills Share tutorial for it, just to make sure I know exactly what I’m doing). There’s also lots of help and tutorials online.

Equipment: I already have all the required equipment to start making videos (I found a tripod at Big W for roughly AU $25), I could literally start tomorrow if that’s what I wanted.

Audience Interaction: YouTube is a great method of interaction and for building a community and there’s a proven track-record of people building successful and supportive mental health communities. It’s a big component of why I want to do this.

YouTube Channel Cons:

Super Awkward: When it comes to making movies and taking photographs, I’ve spent most of my time behind the camera, and I’m pretty good at directing (aka telling people how to do their jobs). But I don’t have that same sense of confidence when I’m placed in front of a camera. I tried to make a short introduction video for my YouTube Channel, I tried four times to do a short 30 second clip and kept fucking up the short basic script I had devised for myself, eventually I thought “Fuck it!” and decided on doing a voice recording with my phone and pictures instead of video footage (you can view the intro video down below, don’t feel bad for laughing, the video is very much a rush job)

Marketing: From the research I’ve doing, a lot of the ADHD journal-style channels are created by people presumably in the USA, now this could give me an edge, an Australian woman talking about her personal experiences would be unique, but there is a risk that this is too unique and that only small percentage of people are going to interested in it. There’s also the problem that there are A LOT of people doing this already, and while I think this is awesome and I’m very much for ending the stigma surrounding ADHD and other Mental Health problems, I still need to ask myself “What am I bringing to the table?” and I’m not entirely certain that I would be adding to the conversation.

Interaction: Lets be honest here, YouTube isn’t known for being a safe place, where online harassment is taken seriously. While I know I have reasonably thick skin, the problem is that I don’t know if the possible good I get from this channel is going to out-weight the potential harassment I’m going to receive online. I’m not saying harassment or bullies should hold you back from doing what you want to do, because there are always going to be bullies and nay-sayers out there telling you not to try, this is more from a self-care and time management perspective.

Timing: I mean, with regards to filming, it’s lot more work involved in making YouTube videos in comparison to writing blog-posts on WordPress or Tumblr. With videos, you need time to film, organise a guest and/or work around guest’s schedule, edit film, possibly edit audio, publish it on YouTube, and then also make a blog-post about it on WordPress.

Length: I’m going to be honest, I talk a lot and at a fast pace, There’s also the problem with YouTube that videos are expected to be short (the implied maximum being 12-15 minutes) and I often feel that this time-constraint isn’t always appropriate for Mental Health discussions, a Mental Health problem can’t always be tackled in a 15 minute video, sometimes it’s more complicated than that. It also doesn’t give much time for me to answer any possible questions people might ask of me.

Podcasting Pros:

Comfort: I have no problems with recording myself via audio, I’m also super comfortable with Adobe Auditions (from what I remember, it’s super easy to use, although my memory isn’t the most reliable). In contrast to Adobe Premier, which is a little more difficult (or at least it is for me) and it wasn’t obvious how to use certain features like captioning

Experience: I have some limited experience to creating audio files due to taking a University unit Radio Production, I’m also looking into volunteering for a community radio station once a week.

Accessibility: For transcription, I can use a paid-service such as Trint and I can make my podcasts as long or short as I like.

Podcasting Cons:

Equipment: I have yet to obtain the recording equipment I would need to begin podcasting and that’s mostly because of cost, the audio recorder I have in mind (which is the cheaper of the two options) costs AU $180. Unlike the equipment I have for video recording, if I decide I don’t want to make videos, I can still use my camera and tripod for other things, but this isn’t the case with the audio equipment and I don’t want spend money on equipment I’m only going use once or twice.

Experience: I’ve been making short films since I was teenager, so I kind of know what to expect when making videos with other people, but I’ve never made a podcast before so I’m not sure what to expect, and that’s a little scary.

Problems that would affect both projects:

Effort: Maybe taking on a new writing project isn’t the best idea at this point in time. I’m struggling creatively, everything feels like too much effort and I just can’t, my situation kind of does have a “Going Through The Motions” type of feeling. I’m not doing well with my novel-writing, I had hoped to have a 1st draft of Orion finished by now, maybe I should focus on that instead and figure out why it’s not working for me. There’s a serious concern that I’m just using this idea for a new project as an excuse to procrastinate.

Knowledge: Maybe I’m not the best person for this type of project, I have no formal qualifications and I only have subjective experiences to work from,
I also don’t have the best social skills, a key component required when trying to get people to agree to interviews

Interviews: While I would love to do interviews regardless of my platform, getting the right people to agree to interviews will be a challenge.

Social Media: I would have to set up some separate elements of Social media for this new project, not a lot but some, possibly a separate Twitter or separate Tumblr page for people to ask questions, and seeing as I’ve just recently had to shut down my Havering blog because I just no longer had the mental capacity to maintain it, I feel a little anxious about the idea. I don’t want to set up social media for this project, only to delete it a few months later.

Maybe this is something I need to think about for a little while longer, however, I’d really appreciate it if readers could let me know what they think. Is this something you’d be interested in? Would you prefer YouTube or would you prefer a podcast? What about a combination of the two? I don’t know, I’m just putting ideas out there. If you’d like to check out my introductory video for my channel, the video is just below:

Like this:

Image Description: an image of a Smencil Buddies Pencil Case (watermelon flavour), it’s a teal-green pencil case with eight rows across of raised bumps decorating the outside of the pencil case. Attached to the zipper is a small decorate key-ring that resembles a slice of watermelon with a smiley face on it.

Image Description: an image of a Smencil Buddies Pencil Case (rainbow sherbet flavour), a bright-pink pencil-case with eight rows across of raised bumps decorating the outside of the pencil-case. Attached to the zipper is a small decorate key-ring that resembles an ice-cream cone (it has three colours: pink, green and orange) with a smiley face.

Review:
I was planning on using these items as part of my Diverse Reading Challenge Giveaway, but as they turned out to be scented items, I decided against it. The problem with scented items is that there’s just too much risk and variation (what I find enjoyable may just give someone else a headache), however, I figured I may as well do a review of these anyway.

This is how wide it is:

This is what it looks like on the inside:

For comparison purposes, this is my Hoopla Ice-cream pencil case:

The Ice-cream pencil case is reasonably sized (by my standards) and it contains a rainbow collection of pens I bought from Daiso and a collection of glitter pens and metallic gel pens I bought from Aldi.

While I managed to squeeze all those pens into the Rainbow Sherbet pencil case, the result was a little concerning, and it looked like it would explode any minute.

So, as a pencil case, I would probably consider it too small (but it this could just be me), however, it’s size should make it okay to use as a Stim Toy Case, but due to the fact that it’s a scented item and thus not recommended for public use due to chemical sensitivities, I wouldn’t consider it practical.

But it feels so good to touch, the knobbly parts are great to run your fingers over, and I also enjoy the smooth side as well. I really like the Rainbow Sherbet one, and I’m probably going to keep it for myself, despite the fact that I know it’s completely impractical.